Dreamcast Game #18: Coaster Works

ジェットコースタードリーム, Jet Coaster Dream

Jet Coaster Dream, also known as Coaster Works in North America and Europe, is a simulation game for the Dreamcast console which was released by Xicat Interactive (now closed) on December 9, 1999 (Japan), December 10, 2000 (North America), and June 29, 2001 (Europe) and is developed by Bottom Up and Bimboosoft. Bimboosoft, the game’s developer, is still active today.

The game was designed to rival Chris Sawyer’s own RollerCoaster Tycoon since simulation games are not very common on Sega Dreamcast. Sixteen years later, Frontier Developments developed and released Planet Coaster, which was originally made for Windows computers and later received the Mac version.

The game is a simulation of roller coaster design and construction. Each of the levels offers certain requirements that the player must meet to pass to the next level. The game starts the player off in a “kiddie” themed park and progresses to more and more difficult levels with more difficult requirements. A direct sequel titled, Jet Coaster Dream 2 was released in November 2000 in Japan only as the North American and PAL releases were canceled for 2001.

If the player has met all the requirements such as the set minimum speed in MPH (KM/H in the European/Japanese versions), the minimum G force, the thrill, and safety points during its initial test run, they will pass and go on to the next theme park, otherwise, they will fail and must modify the coaster. The last theme park, named Extreme Adventure Park, is more challenging and after they pass the last theme park, the game’s credits will roll.

When I was young, most of my time is spent playing RollerCoaster Tycoon on an old Windows 98 computer since my dad couldn’t purchase the game, and the first three NBA 2K games on the Dreamcast take a lot of space on the VMUs. There’s sadly not much to talk about this Dreamcast game because the article was short. This will be the last story of 2021 for Shinkansen Retrogaming.

Thanks for reading this article, and also, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Cory Roberts out.